Tag: GOP now as corrupt as Trump

Senate Republicans defend decision to bar new evidence as Trump acquittal vote nears

Washington Post logoSenate Republicans on Sunday acknowledged that President Trump was wrong to pressure Ukraine for his own political benefit, even as they defended their decision to prohibit new evidence in his impeachment trial while pressing ahead with the president’s all-but-certain acquittal.

The remarks from key Republicans — including Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and Joni Ernst (Iowa) — came after the Trump administration revealed the existence of emails that could shed light on the president’s reasons for withholding military aid to Ukraine.

“I’m going to vote to acquit,” Alexander said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.” “I’m very concerned about any action that we could take that would establish a perpetual impeachment in the House of Representatives whenever the House was a different party than the president. That would immobilize the Senate.” Continue reading.

Graham Promises Senate Probe Of Bidens

From the February 2 edition of Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo:

MARIA BARTIROMO (ANCHOR): Schumer this morning signaling that the Democrats will not accept an acquittal as legitimate. Nancy Pelosi hinting that she is going to call Bolton in the House. John Bolton. What’s the dems next move? And how are you going to get anything done, Senator, if you actually got the other side constantly pushing to find out dirt on Donald Trump?

LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Well, the president has been successful in spite of all of this. I hope we can turn the page as a nation and focus on issues important. But as Nancy Pelosi calls Bolton, here is what I would say. They’re impeaching the president for suspension of aid that was eventually received, trying to leverage an investigation that never happened. This is ridiculous. Mueller broke their heart. They won’t let it go. They hate this man. Pelosi is no longer Speaker of the House. Just in name only. I don’t know if they will ever let it go. Here is what I’m going to do. If they talk to Bolton, I will bring in State Department officials, and ask them why didn’t you do something about the obvious conflict of interest Joe Biden had? Joe Biden’s effort to combat corruption in the Ukraine became a joke, when Joe Biden got before the Ukrainian parliament talking about sweetheart deals, and reforming the energy sector, I can only imagine how they were laughing under their breath. What about your son, Vice President Biden, sitting on the most corrupt board in Ukraine, Burisma, receiving $3 million dollars. I can only imagine if a Republican done what Biden had done. But we’re going to get to the bottom of this. And I can prove beyond any doubt that Joe Biden’s effort in the Ukraine to root out corruption was undercut because he let his son sit on the board of the most corrupt company in the Ukraine and we’ll not give him a pass on that. Continue reading.

‘A massive historical story’: Trump’s impending acquittal could have profound ramifications for future presidents

Washington Post logoThe evidence of President Trump’s actions to pressure Ukraine was never in serious dispute. After a systematic presentation of the facts of the case, even some Senate Republicans concluded that what he did was wrong.

But neither was the verdict of Trump’s impeachment trial ever in doubt. The Senate’s jurors are scheduled to etch an almost-certain acquittal into the historical record on Wednesday.

The impending judgment that the president’s actions do not warrant his removal from office serves as a testament to Washington’s extraordinary partisan divide and to Trump’s uncontested hold on the Republican base. The expected acquittal also has profound and long-term ramifications for America’s institutions and the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches, according to numerous historians and legal experts. Continue reading.

Trump Campaign and R.N.C. Spent $9 Million in 4th Quarter, Mostly on Digital Ads

New York Times logoThe groups supporting the president’s re-election bid also made 150 payments to Trump-owned entities and properties, Federal Election Commission filings show.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee together spent more than $9 million on polling, digital ads and fees paid to Trump-owned properties in the last three months of 2019, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission released on Friday.

The filings detail how the Trump campaign, the Trump Victory committee, a third entity called the Trump Make America Great Again Committee and the national party committee spent their cash from October through the end of December. Together, they previously reported raising $154 million over those months, and closed the year with $195 million in cash on hand.

The Trump apparatus has raised an outsize sum, but it has faced questions about how, exactly, it is spending its reserves. Even though he is not funding his own bid this time around, Mr. Trump has repeatedly grilled his advisers about where and how they are spending money. Continue reading.

The cringing abdication of Senate Republicans

Washington Post logoREPUBLICAN SENATORS who voted Friday to suppress known but unexamined evidence of President Trump’s wrongdoing at his Senate trial must have calculated that the wrath of a vindictive president is more dangerous than the sensible judgment of the American people, who, polls showed, overwhelmingly favored the summoning of witnesses. That’s almost the only way to understand how the Republicans could have chosen to deny themselves and the public the firsthand account of former national security adviser John Bolton, and perhaps others, on how Mr. Trump sought to extort political favors from Ukraine.

The public explanations the senators offered were so weak and contradictory as to reveal themselves as pretexts. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she weighed supporting “additional witnesses and documents, to cure the shortcomings” of the House’s impeachment process, but decided against doing so. Apparently she preferred a bad trial to a better one — but she did assure us that she felt “sad” that “the Congress has failed.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the case against Mr. Trump had already been proved, so no further testimony was needed. But he also said, without explanation, that Mr. Trump’s “inappropriate” conduct did not merit removal from office; voters, he said, should render a verdict in the coming presidential election. How could he measure the seriousness of Mr. Trump’s wrongdoing without hearing Mr. Bolton’s firsthand testimony of the president’s motives and intentions, including about whether the president is likely to seek additional improper foreign intervention in that same election? Continue reading.

Republicans signal renewed confidence they’ll avoid witness fight

The Hill logoSenate Republicans emerged from a closed-door caucus meeting on Tuesday voicing renewed confidence that they will bypass a nasty witness fight in the impeachment trial.

“The consensus is that we’ve heard enough and it’s time to go to a final judgement,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told reporters.

Asked if the trial proceedings should go past Friday, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), another member of Senate GOP leadership, said it “shouldn’t.” Continue reading.

NBC’s Chuck Todd accuses GOPer John Kennedy of being ‘duped’ by Russia and spreading their propaganda in contentious interview

AlterNet logoIn a fairly contentious interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host Chuck Todd accused Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) of being “duped”  by the Russians and spreading their propaganda about Ukraine in order to help Donald Trump.

According to Kennedy, who has been under fire for pushing the Ukraine 2016 election conspiracy theory, “I think both Russia and Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. I think it’s been well documented in the Financial Times and Politico and The Economist and the Washington Examiner, even on CBS that the prime minister of Ukraine, the interior minister, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, the head of the Ukrainian anti-corruption league all meddled in the election on social media and otherwise. They worked with the DNC operative against the president.”

Todd pushed back by citing testimony from diplomat Fiona Hill stating, “This entire effort to frame Ukraine for the Russian meddling of 2016, of which you just made this case that they’ve done it, that actually this is an effort of Russia propaganda, that this is a Russian intelligence propaganda campaign in order to get people like you to say these things about Ukraine. Are you at all concerned you are doing Russian intelligence work here?”

Continue reading here.

GOP Whip Scalise Refuses To Disown Death Threats Against Schiff

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the House minority whip, refuses to condemn violent attacks against House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, despite a previous pledge to do so.

Schiff (D-CA) has been on the receiving end of politically motivated death threats, spurred on by comments made by Donald Trump and Scalise, the Washington Post reported Monday.

Trump attacked Schiff, who is a leading voice in the House impeachment inquiry, but saying Schiff committed “treason,” leading many on social media to call for Schiff to be executed. Scalise called Schiff a “proven liar” who needs to be “held accountable,” resulting in many on the right calling for Schiff to be thrown in prison or be executed.

View the complete October 14 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.